Vol. 30, No. 3: Sheikh

English transliterations of Arabic have long been a difficult issue. And one of our longtime rules has been the spelling of sheik as a title for the leader of an Arab family or tribe, or Muslim leader. But it has become clear that sheikh (pronounced much closer to shayk than sheek) has evolved into the more-accepted spelling, so we are changing to that as the style. One of our Middle East experts, editor and columnist Yaroslav Trofimov, says the sheik spelling has grown obsolete. The Arabic last letter in the word corresponds to “kh” not to “k,” he notes. And editor Hammad Jawdat, among others, notes that the sheik spelling makes sense only for the fact that many Americans pronounce it sheek.

Similarly, sheikhdom.

Meanwhile, we continue to use the style of al- or el- when we incorporate that title in a name (but only on first reference), rather than Al or El. Arabic has no upper or lower case and no dash, notes Yaro, so various transliterations would be legitimate. But this one still works for us. Thus: Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah for the Kuwaiti ruler’s name, with the second reference being the first and second words, Sheikh Sabah.

We’ll play along with esports

Many of us still remember when we had to spell out electronic mail, and then e-mail, before the unhyphenated email. But until now, all the other “e-” words have kept the hyphen, including e-commerce and e-book. They are just too hard to read otherwise.

But the case has been successfully made to spell esports, or competitive videogaming as a spectator sport, with no hyphen. The AP recently made the switch for the word. We can’t get around the fact everyone involved in the upstart sport, from contest organizers to game companies, does it that way. And we prefer it over other choices including eSports or e-Sports.

Bracketology

A reminder that we use brackets, not parentheses, when interpolating a word in someone’s quote. “Then it can offer useful [smart glasses] functions.”

Rulings & reminders

● Oilman and oilmen is now the style, matching Webster's, rather than two words as we had done it for many decades. But still two words on oil field.● Scott Gottlieb, nominated to be the FDA chief, is another of the medical doctors now in government who should be Dr. on second references. This continues our policy of Dr. for medical doctors whose current jobs in government are directly related to their former professions. But as part of a longstanding policy, medical doctors who go into politics and whose positions are unrelated to medicine are called Mr., Ms., Miss or Mrs., as the person prefers (Mr. Carson, Mr. orSen. Paul, etc.).● Paamco, not all-uppercase PAAMCO, is our style for the acronym for Pacific Alternative Asset Management Co. (Reason: Five letters or more and pronounceable.)● En Marche for the French political party, not En Marche! We drop exclamation points and question marks in entities' names.● The word profits shouldn’t be used when the reference is to a single entity. In that case: profit. The same is true with revenue.● Using grow as a verb, as in grow the economy, is still frowned upon unless we’re talking about crops or a beard. It is hackneyed, and worse so since politicians have been using it to sound business-savvy in recent years.● Swift, not all-uppercase SWIFT, for the international bank-messaging network or references to the Swift access codes. (It stands for Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication.)● The phrases "comes at a critical time" and “going forward” have long ago become overworked. Often, neither one is needed at all.

Reticent, reluctant

We continue to misuse these. Reticent refers to speech, or being silent. Reluctant is the choice if we mean hesitant to act.

The singular ‘they’

Despite the AP’s recent decision, in limited uses, to accept they as a singular pronoun (When an investor acts quickly, they risk losing money) we continue to believe that such a sentence merely sounds ungrammatical. We don’t mind a he or she instead of the they; in fact, that sounds pretty inclusive.

The bigger point, however, is that in nearly all cases, a simple rewording does the trick to avoid the whole issue, keeping the they but making the subject plural (When investors act quickly, they risk….).

Heads above the rest

● "It's a Bond—an Aston Martin Bond," by Paul Lupinacci.● “New on Your Dinner Tab: A Labor Surcharge,” by Alexandra Kaptik.● "Who Is Mailing Potatoes to NBA Players? A Spud Web of Intrigue," by Aaron Jaffe, playfully dropping in a reference to former player Spud Webb.● "Veg-O-Matic Maker Files to Go Public. But Wait, There’s More..." by Marcelo Prince, Andrew LaVallee and Ruth Simon.● "Mommy, Where Do Cocktails Come From?" by Sam Walker.● “Pit Bulls Get a New Leash on Life—as Police Dogs,” by Dave Kozo.

Heads that make you go 'hmmm'

At the risk of nitpicking, several headlines had small style miscues this month (such things are more noticeable in a large-type headline than in an article):

● "The After Effects of Pitching in the World Baseball Classic." One word on Aftereffects.● "An RV Tour of Middle-earth." Uppercase the E in Middle-Earth or most any other hyphenated words in a headline (an exception: Co-op).● "Womanly, Yes, But I Like It, Too." Lowercase but.

And, of course, Villanova's indignity, second only to its March Madness loss, of 'Nova in a headline. That should have been an apostrophe, not an open single-quote, replacing any letter or series of letters dropped from a word.

Quiz (find the flubs)

1. I was accepted to UCLA, but at the same time I had a job offer at Chicago’s Chez Parée nightclub. My father, being a practical man, felt I should take the job.

2. Such bipartisan admiration puts Judge Gorsuch, 49 years old, in an elite class of lawyers whom many in both wings believe can be trusted to safeguard the court.

4. He eventually landed a job as a splicer’s helper at AT&T, the same phone company his father worked for 48 years.

5. With fewer than 10 residents per square mile, the state [North Dakota] is famous for its emptiness.”

Answers

1. The otherwise fine essay by Joel Grey should have referred to Chez Paree without the accent mark, which is how the old Chicago club rendered it (as caught by reader David E. Gold). Good reminder that even if your editing software adds an accent, it might not be accurate in context.

2. They are lawyers who many in both wings believe can be trusted. The who/whom choice can be difficult but the entry in the stylebook is a pretty good guide. ("Who" in this case, since it refers to the subject of a clause.)

3. The law is the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA. (We weren't the first ones to get the words out of order; another common error is spelling it "Educational.")

4. Unless his father manipulated the company for those 48 years, the sentence needs another for or, alternatively, the company where his father worked.

5. Residents per square mile is a calculated metric, notes Mr. Gold (not limited to whole numbers as when we count people in a room; the figure in another case could have been 9.2 or 9.3). This should thus be less than 10 residents per square mile.